February 29, 2008

The Big Awards hold no excitement for me.

In the middle of my viewing week since my last entry, were the two big nights of awards. Since I had not seen any of the best picture nominees, I had no opinion except none were interesting enough for me to get out in our cold Heartland winter to visit a theater. Maybe I'll rent some of them; maybe I'll just wait for them on TV. At least The Independent Spirit Awards were entertaining and irreverant.
So my films for last week were:

New Moon (1940) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032840/ Beautiful music by the sweethearts of films, Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. Rombergs score for this operetta was wonderful and the leads were in top form.

Nelson & Jeanette (PBS ) (1992) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104980/ Clips from all 8 of their films together. With comments by those who knew them and/or worked with them.

The Swan - LTX (1956) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049815/ Another tape of this film off of TCM at the right ratio shows the beauty of the locations.

Dear Heart (1964) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057999/ Glenn Ford and Geraldine Page show how grown-ups can make a wonderful romantic movie about mature people. About a greeting card salesman and a small town postmistress at a convention, who meet and fall in love. Lovely title song.

The 2007 Independent Spirit Awards (2/23/08) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1063328/ Love the laid back atmosphere and the naughty attitude. Fun.

The 80th Academy Awards (2/29/08) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1063328/ Really not the best, but at least it got done.

Charlotte Gray (2001) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245046/ Cate Blanchett as a secret agent in WWII who gets sent to vichy France. Good up until she is set to be returned to England and the script goes off. Seemed so false for the character that I did not enjoy the last scenes at all. Beautiful locations, and the costumes and props, like cars, etc., were spot on.

The Story Of Three Loves (1953) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046374/ Three stories of romance. James Mason and Moira Shearer lead off with a story about an ill ballet dancer. Leslie Caron in the middle story is the silliest. 12 year old Ricky Nelson and Farley Granger are involved. Final story stars Kirk Douglas and Pier Angeli as a girl who tries suicide and her rescuer who is looking for a new partner for his high trapeze act. Their story is interesting, but it is the first one, with it's gorgeous score that I enjoyed the most, in 1953 and last week.

Ripleys Game (2002) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265651/ John Malkovich as Ripley is, as usual, terrific and interesting. Dougrey Scott is his foil. Lena Headey of 300 fame plays Scotts wife. Twists and turns and double dealing. Keeps us on our toes.

I was browsing film sites and on BoxOfficeMOJO found this about revenue from films:

"Home Market
The Home Market refers to revenue derived from people viewing movies at home. It is broken down into three sections: rentals, sales and TV rights. Combined these bring in more than *double the domestic box office* and can turn a film that was a mid-level hit to a monster hit, or lift a film that struggled at the box office to one that shows a considerable profit. And to think, just a couple of decades ago studios were suing VCR manufacturers and Video Rental stores claiming they would kill the industry! Of course now DVD is king, representing more than 80% of rentals and nearly all of the sales. "

What will the next few years hold for the movie box office? Will there still be theater complexes? The times they are a changin'. Me thinks.

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